ncode Desktop / Maintain

Storage and cleanup

ncode keeps every conversation, every agent step and every file snapshot, so the database grows as you use it. Settings → Storage shows where the space goes and lets you take it back without losing what matters.

What takes space#

ncode keeps its own data in one local database plus a few folders: your sessions (conversations and their runs), the details of every agent step (tool output, prompts), rewind snapshots, workflow journals and research reports. Cleaning up touches only this data, never your project files or the .swarm_code folder in a project.

Two ways to shrink it#

• Delete removes whole sessions, snapshots, journals or reports for good.
• Prune keeps every session and its transcript, tokens, cost and timings, and drops only the bulky details of finished runs: tool output and prompts. A pruned run still reads the same in the transcript; its agent steps just no longer show their full output.

Nothing is ever removed from a session that is pinned, open in a window or still running.

Retention#

Retention does the same work on a schedule, once a day, while the desktop app is running:

• delete sessions older than 30, 60, 90 or 180 days (off by default);
• prune agent details older than 14, 30 or 90 days (off by default).

Reclaiming disk space#

Deleting rows frees space inside the database file, not on the disk. Reclaiming the space (SQLite's VACUUM) rewrites the file so it shrinks; it deletes nothing, and the sweep never does it on its own.

The storage bar#

The bar shows the total size and how it splits: Sessions, Agent details, Rewind snapshots, Workflow journals, Research, and Index & free space. Hover a part to see its size.

Cleaning up#

Click Clean up…. The dialog has three tabs:

• Quick: one-click presets: Delete sessions older than 30 days, Keep only the last 2 weeks, Prune agent details older than 14 days, Delete rewind snapshots older than 30 days and Reclaim disk space.
• Sessions: every session with its size, messages and runs, sortable, so you can pick exactly which to delete. Pinned sessions are excluded unless you tick them here.
• Advanced: separate ages for rewind snapshots, workflow journals of finished runs, agent details and research reports, whether to delete empty sessions, and Reclaim disk space afterwards (VACUUM).

Then click Review. The review step lists what will be removed, what will be kept back and why (pinned, open in a window, still running), and warns that deleted sessions, snapshots and reports cannot be recovered. Confirm to run it. When it is done you can Reclaim disk space now.

Retention#

Under Retention, pick Automatically delete sessions older than (30, 60, 90 or 180 days) and Prune agent details older than (14, 30 or 90 days). The app then applies them by itself once a day while it runs. The line under them says when the last sweep ran.